JL | Com Ivanova, Cmdr Dahe'el, Cmdr Rinehart, Lt Kerenal - "Black Hole Sun"

Posted on Wed Aug 12th, 2015 @ 10:45pm by Admiral Rochelle Ivanova & Commander Tierney Rinehart & Commander Almar Dahe'el & Lieutenant Kerenal

3,688 words; about a 18 minute read

Mission: Agua Mala

Baking in the sun, the rocky outcrops along either side of the beach proved to be a perfect resting place for Almar as he lay back. His scaled flesh pressed against the hot rocks, a pair of board shorts covering his lower self, his torso, legs and arms bare to soak up as much of the sun as possible. His obsidian eyes were hidden behind the multiple eyelids he possessed, and a slight smile crossed his face.

After everything that had happened to Almar, it felt good to spend some time doing nothing. He'd allowed himself to be promoted out of his comfort zone, a place he had worked hard to stay, that combined with everything that had happened on Atlantis had torn him up inside and made him wish he'd kept himself to himself. He hurt and now he couldn't hide as easily as he could before; he was expected to be visible, he was the bridge between Rochelle and the rest of the crew, fielding the trivial and passing on the important to her.

Only a short distance from the miasma of political discord, Rochelle had managed to find sanctuary on the sand. Landon had done everything short of pulling teeth to chase her away from the ship and resort rooms, but once immersed in the beach culture, the young Commodore had allowed herself to relax and spend her free time, what little of it that she had, combing the sand for shells. Unlike Quo'NoS, they were safe to wander here -- political guests of the royal house and while Rochele was certain that they were being watched, she was also certain that being watched meant certain safety. On their own, the Ascendancy was powerful and dangerous, but they weren't quite yet a match for the Federation... Add the Romulans into the picture and that likely could have been an entirely different story and Archer had been instructed to watch tr'Verelan closely, especially where the Princess was concerned. Love/Hate or not, their actions and interactions could and would either spark or end a war.

But that was business. Business had no place on white sandy stretches of tropical beach, and Rochelle sighed to chase those thoughts away. Had Landon known they still existed, alcohol may likely have been involved as a last desperate measure to separate the woman from the Commodore and allow vacation time to fully take hold and steep into her chaotic veins. Then again... Just up ahead was yet another reminder of her duties and responsibilities, even if he was strung out like some sort of pet bearded dragon along an outcropping of sand, time, and weather worn ancient coral. "Rocks?" She called, "Archer would have a field day if he saw you lazing in the sun like this." Rochelle smugly added, pausing her forward motion long enough to tilt her head and continue to tease the Cardassian for his very reptilian behavior.

"To each their own, Commodore." Almar replied as he twisted his head slightly towards the sound of her voice, his eyes remaining very much closed as he soaked up the sun, "It's not often that I get to feel the true warmth of a real sun, let alone bask in a proper heat, we all saw what happened on Notura when I got too cold." the Cardassian added with a slight chuckle, "And while the environmental systems do a good enough job in my own quarters, sometimes what a person needs is a real sun."

The redhead shrugged, "Fair enough." She replied and moved to hike up the length of her fabric draped from the swell of her hips as she took the first step to scale the rocky outcrop. Sand and shells skittered down from her toes and hands as they took hold on the surprisingly smooth surface of each massive stone until she made it to his level and set down beside him. Sprawled would likely have been a better word as she stretched out against the heat of the rocks, pleasantly surprised that their soft sand coloring had kept them from blistering her sensitive skin. "I can see the merits in this." She added with a contented huff, grateful for the old school sunglasses that graced her face as the sun made its presence more than well known.

"I hope you've prepared your skin for this sun, I've heard that Humans of fair complexion have a tendency to get sunburn." Almar replied softly as he rolled his head towards her and opened his eyes slightly, "I'm not likely to find myself worrying about these things, but you're an ideal candidate."

A wry little smile curled itself about the corners of Rochelle's mouth and, feeling the weight of his gaze upon her, she rolled to face him. "We have this amazing thing called sunblock. Can use it as a lotion or in hypo form." The smirk blossomed into a full blown smart-assed grin as she propped her head up with her hand, "Though... I digress... I'm envious of the fact that you don't burn. Pretty sure I spent most summers as a kid looking like a lobster."

--

Further down the beach, the bare feet of a centuries old creature tested the sand and found it warming to the touch. Kerenal smiled as he hefted his bag and made for a midpoint between the tidal markings and the top of the beach and his towel caught the breeze as he turned and placed it down. The bag followed suit and then he placed himself down on the towel, using the bag as a pillow to cushion his head.

Uncertain of her surroundings, Tierney followed the El-Aurian closely. Her every move seemed to shadow his own as she unconsciously sought the comfort and security he seemed to constantly offer simply by being in existence. He'd been right when he'd said the Stenellis people would be interested in her for her heritage; a barrage of questions had come - most of them she hadn't even the foggiest inkling of an answer for. They watched her, some with scrutiny and others with careful wonder, as she picked her way through their cities and went about her duties as a Starfleet officer... And then came the fated demand that they shirk their ranks and simply act and enjoy the hospitality as people... She could do work. Play was another thing entirely, and it was as foreign as accepting touch and affection had been in the beginning. In fact, play had always been curling up with a good book in some forsaken corner of a ship; not loping across some unspoiled beach while scantily clad and leaving very little to the imagination as she did so. "They're getting darker." She muttered gently, flopping down beside her lover in the sun and rubbing self-consciously at the myriad of spots and ticking that littered her body by way of freckling. "I swear they're multiplying or something."

"Being bought to the fore by the sun," Kerenal replied, chuckling as he began relaxing into his position and enjoying the sun, "I'm glad we decided to come down, this really is lovely, I think the view is rather good too, especially where you're concerned," he added, turning onto his side and running a rough hand down her thigh gently.

"They're ridiculous." She muttered in response, roughly rubbing her palm over her sun-block covered forearm once again before giving up. No amount of scratching or pawing would make them go away -- she was doomed to wear the sun-loving dapples for the rest of her time, and should real sun hit them, especially the sun of her species home world, she was equally as doomed to deal with the way to seemed to take on a life of their own. A quick peek in a mirror had told her that even just traipsing the streets of Aleine had seen a light smattering of them appear along the lines of her lips, something she'd now need to take great care in hiding with an application of cosmetics of some sort.

"Hateful things." She added quickly before turning her attention over to Kerenal and what it was that he was saying. "Where I'm concerned?" She hummed the question, appreciative of his touch.

"It's nice to see you relaxed enough to show off a little skin, I still remember a time when you were against showing anything of yourself for fear of being judged." Kerenal responded as his hand rested on her knee, "You were quite worried when I saw your glow the first time."

"A lot has changed since the Crazy Horse." Tierney replied with a small nod, "I wouldn't dream of running around like this on the ship, or anything, but... When in Rome..." She shrugged, letting the old Terran adage trail off, her point seemingly made. The beaches were packed with people in various stages of undress. Some of the locals even wore nothing but the sheen of drying sea water or sunning oils as they basked in their homeworld's sun. At first the Starling had been surprised and put off by the vibrant lack of care displayed; nudity, at least to her, was one of those extremely private and personal things that sat paramount on a list of things not to do in public -- but it had given her that boost of confidence necessary to bite the proverbial bullet and purchase the bikini that clung precariously to her nubile young body. The bright flash of turquoise fabric only seemed to highlight the pale china and rose pigmentation of her skin, and the fathoms of her sea-like eyes, even if it left very little to the imagination by way of her figure and whatever charms she'd long since hidden beneath layers of fabric and uniforms.

"It certainly has," Kerenal replied as he looked over her shoulder towards the rocky outcrop, spotting the clearly Cardassian scales on the rocks with the flaming redhead, "It would appear that the Vindicator's Command Team are taking a bit of time off to enjoy the weather too." he added, gesturing towards them with his head.

"Oh?" The sand gave way beneath her body as she rolled, and Tierney almost lost her perch as she tried to look off in the direction that held Kerenal's attention, "The pipeline is pretty much stuffed with rumors about the two of them." She wrinkled her nose as she propped herself back up and studied the basking pair. "Then again I heard word that she's engaged to the guy that used to command the Vindicator, the one the Romulans kidnapped and all that." She shrugged lightly. The whole story was sitting on a PADD hand curated by the Vindicator's own chief of Intelligence as he sat, sighing, and going over each and every itsy bitsy detail that may, or may not, prove to be a weakness in Starfleet's armor should the Stenellis prove to be less than serene.

"I'd heard bits, like how he flew the entire ship into atmosphere to save her life?" Kerenal responded as he lay his head back down and let out a quick chuckle, "I don't see how that is possible, the ship is huge and it'd take a miracle for it to survive the trip."

Tierney scoffed softly, "I heard that too. Amazing the crap that people come up with." She quipped, peering over her shoulder at her lover, "The Discovery class is interesting enough, engineering marvel and all that, but she can hardly defy the laws of physics." Her eyes were quick to travel back over to the pair of officer's perched on the outcropping.

"I wouldn't quite say that," Kerenal replied with a light chuckle, "In times past, Humanity considered time travel beyond the laws of physics, the same was thought of faster than light travel and look where humanity is now."

Casting another quick glance over at Kerenal, the Starling could hardly argue. History had indeed proven that physics could be defied, and rewritten, in the strangest and most unlikely of ways. "We've been caught. Commodore's looking straight at us."

--

"We're being watched." Rochelle yawned nonchalantly, peering through sun-warmed lashes to take in the sight of the couple. To her it was more than amusing, and a little unsettling, to see just how many eyes ran their way. Even when she strolled with Landon she could feel them, read expressions, and knew more gossip would be hitting the rumor mill within minutes. It would always be the same; hushed tones and whispers of the past, rife with tragedy and romantic tales of daring rescue, combined with amorous depictions of what people thought they saw. It was something she still, and would likely always, struggle with as the years went on and her life became more and more public.

"You get used to it after a while, being Cardassian tends to draw gazes," Almar stated, maintaining his position and shifting his weight slightly, a hand running up to smooth down his jet black hair, "Native or Fleet?" he asked curiously.

Pushing the bridge of her sunglasses down, Rochelle gently vied for a better look at the pair of beach-goers, "Federation. Pretty sure the woman is Enterprise's head spook." She replied, studying the aforementioned woman's soft lavender colored hair with a small measure of interest, "I've heard it said that she's half-Stenellis." The redhead's voice strained ever so slightly as she rolled completely onto her belly and propped her upper-half up on her elbows for a far better vantage, amused by the way the Intel officer seemed to shrink away under the realization she'd fallen under Rochelle's spectrum of attention. "We should do the friendly thing and introduce ourselves. Maybe it'll cut down on the rumor mill a bit."

The sentence was punctuated by the sounds made by a body righting itself onto its feet and the spirited young Commodore was quick to grab at one of Almar's hands to encourage him up as well.

"This better be worth tearing me away from my rock," Almar replied with a light chuckle and a wink as he eyelids fluttered open, he accepted the hand up and found his feet, leaning down to pick up the small bag he'd prepared, "Who's the guy? Looks... average." he questioned as he stretched slightly.

"Average?" Rochelle's amusement only seemed to grow as she hopped from the rocks and paused only to free her sarong from where it had snagged on a particularly rough patch. "Good thing you're leaving your heat rock to find out more." She snorted softly, checking the fabric for any real injury. "I haven't the foggiest clue who he is."

"In this day and age, for someone to look as... Human as he does is somewhat of an oddity." Almar replied as they strode forward, towards the couple sat in the sand. In the back of his mind Almar was still widely aware that Rochelle had not dropped his hand since helping him to his feet while their navigation of the rocks was becoming easier as they got down to smaller ones and then the fine sand of the beach.

"Being human... I'm going to ignore that statement." The redhead retorted with a quiet scoff and her nose quickly, and snootily, found the direction in playful rebuff.

Mere meters away, however, Tierney's saucer like eyes were quickly thankful for the sun shades she'd snagged from a vendor at the resort. Behind them they were huge and almost rabbit-like as she watched the approaching figure of the tiny Commodore and her powerfully built Executive Officer. Archer had handed her a dossier on every crew member in the Vindicator's compliment, most of them included notes that he'd penned himself; they weren't exempt. Rumors were rumors, but the thoughts of a fellow Intel agent couldn't help but ring clarion through the Starling's mind as she lay a hand on Kerenal's arm and gestured, with a subtle nod, towards their incoming property.

"Greetings." Rochelle called out to the pair, "Figured we'd come introduce ourselves since we saw you folks down here and the what not." How she managed to say such a sentence without plastering her face with a sarcastic smile was beyond her... And likely a a small miracle as she looked down at the sun-drenched pair. "I know who you are," She added, dropping Almar's hand to point at Tierney, "but you," she gestured towards Kerenal with a slightly upswept brow, "I haven't a clue."

"Lieutenant Kerenal, Chief of Operations, USS Enterprise." Kerenal replied with a slight bow of the head as he propped himself up to greet the newcomers, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Commodore, Commander." he added with a similar nod to the Cardassian beside her, the difference in height was even more apparent with his scaled torso bare against the bright sun.

Almar returned the nod as he came to a halt and placed the bag down, intending to return to relaxing once the pleasantries were complete, "And you, Lieutenant." he replied quickly before running the name through his head for a few minutes, "We're off duty here though, do you have a forename?"

Like Rochelle, Tierney remained silent and simply waited for answer having given a nod in acknowledgement and return of the sentiments. She couldn't help but study the legendary pair now that they were up close and personal. Clothed only in a bikini and sheer black sarong, the Commodore's skin, she noted, was flawless aside from the subtle sheen of freckles that lightly dappled what should have been battle scared flesh. Medical marvels had done well in preserving her outward integrity and depicting an image of an infallible warrior not at all unlike the rumors insisted. They'd failed, however, to note the woman's accurate height. Tierney had noted her small stature in her personnel file and still had expected someone larger than life to appear before her. Standing beside her XO, however, she was diminutive, bird-boned, and nearly unbearably elegant and frail like some sort of fine china doll.

"Kerenal is my forename," the El-Aurian replied with a slight smile, he alllowed a small chuckle to pass his lips as he locked eyes with the Cardassian for a moment, "I'm El-Aurian, I did have a family name, some time in the past, but for now it remains hidden in time."

"El-Aurian?" Rochelle responded and nodded in understanding, "That's not a race I hear about every day. What brought you to Starfleet?" She asked, casting a cool glance towards Tierney. She could feel the spook's eyes burning holes and knew she was being measured against one cooler side depiction or another.

"I felt the need to sign up during the Second Dominion War, I was on Vulcan when it began and after the atrocities that the First Dominion War bought, I felt I couldn't sit by and not put myself into the fray." Kerenal replied with a slight frown, "Both of those wars were dark days, not quite as dark as recent events but still enough to draw everyone up in arms."

"Fair enough." Replied the Commodore, stealing a quick glance over at Almar to gauge reactions. While the Lieutenant seemed relaxed enough, and hardly bothered by the presence of a Cardassian, she couldn't help but hear the subtle tones of implication and potential strife drifting in and out of the words that made up his explanation.

Tierney too couldn't help but look up at the Cardassian Commander. He wasn't the first she'd seen in Starfleet, with Entek stealing the show there, and she doubted he'd be the last -- what he was, however, was the first she'd ever seen in a command capacity. Everything she'd read and been told of the man had been muted by green glowing reports of his tenacity and down right thirst for his work; admirable traits to say the very least. "I think a lot of us have felt a similar pull for one reason or another." She added to the conversation.

Almar could feel the gazes fall on him as the mention of the Dominion came up, it had been a very dark day for the members of his race when they had chosen to align themselves with those foul shapeshifters, not once but twice in their history. He had been too young to realise when the First Dominion War broke out, his family had fled and sought refuge in the Federation and then he was actually a serving Starfleet Officer, kept on the back lines, when the Second Dominion had reared their head. Though he had a lot running through his mind, he chose not to respond, he simply nodded when the part Stenellis mused about their reasons for serving.

"Well..." Rochelle sighed the word awkwardly, the tension between the four officers thick enough to cut with a knife and just as grating on her sense of duty and preservation, "I'd assume those were topics best left for a place other than paradise." She nearly cringed the moment those words left her mouth. Andrea, she figured, would have gloated like the cat that ate the canary upon hearing her upstart protege's quick attempt at smoothing the playing field.

Tierney's head quickly bobbed in agreement and she gestured to the beachy tropics that had ensnared the lot of them, "Paradise indeed. We're all off duty, you should join us for a bit."

"I think that's a very good idea," Kerenal replied with a light chuckle, "From what I know of the mission parameters, we're going to be working together for some time, at least until these talks are done, we might as well make the most of it."

The Commodore heaved a small shrug, "When in Rome, right?" She asked, tapping on Almar's arm to signify that he, too, should resign to beach going with the pair.

(End Log.)

Commodore Rochelle Ivanova
Commanding Officer
USS VINDICATOR, NCC 78213-E

Commander Almar Dahe'el
Acting First Officer
USS Vindicator NCC78213 - E

Commander Tierney Rinehart
Chief Intelligence // Second Officer
USS ENTERPRISE, NCC 1701-F

Lieutenant Kerenal
Chief Operations Officer
USS Enterprise NCC1701 - F

 

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